Absolution
by Lunar1
Summary: It's better to have loved and let go than selfdestructed? Isn't it?Fifteen years after the events of 'Rose', the Doctor and his former companion find themselves working together once more.


Mik'ai cringed as the figure came through the ravaged door of what remained of his shop. His left eye was filled with blood, the right watering painfully, and he could make out nothing more than a humanoid blur.

It came closer. He closed his eyes and prayed to the God he no longer believed in, the words bubbling up from deep inside, the long-forgotten plea of a child.

_Protect us Holy Father for we are weak and small and–– _

A hand touched his face. A warm, human hand. He opened his eyes, blinking away the blood and tears.

A woman was standing over him, hazel eyes filled with concern. "Can you speak?" she asked.

He nodded. "They came––"

"I know. My name's Rose Tyler. I can 'elp."

Her face had probably once been beautiful Mik'ai mused, in the disconnected way of the concussed, but she was far too thin now to be very attractive. Her hair had been shaved and there was an ugly cut running across the back of her head. She pulled a cylindrical object from the inside of a very battered leather jacket. It emitted an eerie blue light and he swallowed, fearfully.

"S'alright," Rose reassured, "It's a sonic screwdriver."

She held it near his temple, tracking down his body slowly. "What are you doing?" Mik'ai managed.

"I'm scanning you," she explained, "You've got a bad concussion and a broken rib or two. Plus a nasty cut above your eye. The screwdriver can fix that, if you like?"

"Please," he gulped.

Rose switched the screwdriver to the appropriate setting and proceeded to cauterise the wound on the man's forehead. "You got a name?" she asked as she worked.

"Mi'kai," he replied. "This is... was... my shop."

"Mi'kai?" She smiled, sadly. "I 'ad a friend called that. There." She flicked the off button and sat back on her haunches. "All done."

"Thank you, Rose Tyler."

"Just Rose is fine. Do you mind if I 'ave a rummage around? I might be able to use some of this stuff."

"Take anything you need."

"Thank you."

She stood, wincing at the pain in her knees, and surveyed the remains of the supply-store. The Umbron had comprehensively ransacked the place, the entire glass frontage shattered, the door hanging almost off its hinges, and the merchandise scattered across the shiny, tiled floor. She rooted through a pile of clothing, shaking fragments of glass out of a pretty shirt. She shrugged off her jacket and slipped it on over her torn vest––

–– the crunch of a foot on glass made her head snap round. She leapt across the room, grabbing Mi'kai by the scruff of the neck and dragging him behind the battered shop counter. She pressed a finger to her lips in a theatrical gesture of quiet, her eyes fixed on a point Mi'kai couldn't see, over the counter top.

He hardly heard the door open over the frantic beating of his own heart, but a relieved smile had crept across the pinched features of his saviour, and she stood up to face whoever had just entered.

"Knew you'd be around 'ere somewhere," she said, her voice light and almost playful, but her eyes shining with held back tears. "You've got a real nose for trouble."

"Likewise," replied a male voice.

Rose leapt over the counter so suddenly Mi''kai flinched, flinging her arms around the newcomer, who hugged her fiercely.

"I've missed you," the man said, brokenly.

Mi''kai peered over the counter-top. The stranger was tall and thin, his copper coloured hair tousled. Rose drew back from him after a few moments, looking up into his eyes."Where's your companion?" she asked, tone arch.

"Around," he replied evasively and a shark's grin touched her mouth.

"Pretty, is she?"

"Jealous?" There was mirth dancing in the man's eyes.

"Of course," Rose responded, "You only pick the best, Doctor."

The Doctor snorted. "Actually, she's a... well, she's a he. But not a human he."

She nodded, her face tightening again. "What're you doing 'ere?"

The Doctor registered the change in her countenance sadly, and sighed. "Same as you. This shouldn't be happening."

"You're telling me. The Umbron 'ave slaughtered thousands."

Mi'kai stood up, drawing the Doctor's attention. "Who's he?"

"This is Mi'kai."

The Doctor chuckled, earning himself a light punch from Rose. "It's not funny."

"Nice to meet you Mi'kai," he said, favouring the shopkeeper with a warm smile, "I'm the Doctor."

"I am honoured to meet you," Mi'kai replied, levelly.

Rose turned to look at him again, eyes shrewd. "You want to come with me? Or stay here?"

Mi'kai smiled. "My place is with my shop, Rose. You are always welcome in my house. I hope one day I can repay your kindness."

She smiled. "I've got a new shirt. That's thanks enough."

They stepped outside, Rose and the Doctor, into bright midday sun. The shopping colonnade was a wreck, no glass left untouched. Shards glinted in the light and Rose's shoulders sagged as a gloom seemed to lay upon her. The Doctor squeezed her shoulder lightly. "We can end this."

"We?"

He sniffed. "If you're willing to let me help, of course."

Her fingers brushed those that touched her shoulder. "Of course I am."

"Oh, good."

They set off, picking their way through the debris on the street carefully. The Doctor put both fingers in his mouth and gave a piercing whistle when they reached the end of the street. A large dog bounded out of a doorway, tongue lolling, tail wagging playfully.

Rose laughed. "Is this your new companion, then?"

The dog (it looked like a large collie) sniffed her feet. She rubbed the top of its head with her thumb and it gave her hand a friendly lick.

"Yep," the Doctor replied, "This is Kern."

"Kern?"

He shrugged. "Don't ask me, that's his name. I'm not going to argue. He's one of the best companions I've ever had. Quiet, friendly... and probably the best looking too."

The comment earned him another punch from Rose. "Cheeky."

"How's Jack, anyway?"

Rose hesitated for a second, her eyes closing briefly. "He's dead, Doctor," she managed, her voice distant when it finally emerged.

He stood stock still. "What?"

"You missed our last get together," she said, her tone faintly accusatory, "His boyfriend turned up. Told me what 'ad 'appened."

The Doctor ran a hand distractedly though his hair. "Dead. No... I––I can't believe it."

"He died saving a lot of people, apparently. A real hero."

He hugged her compulsively, and she let the tears leak from her eyes onto his shoulder. "Oh, Rose."

She wiped her eyes, and sniffed. "Yeah. I know. But there's no sense dwelling on it, is there? We've got a planet to save from evil oppressors." Her words sounded empty.

"Yeah. S'pose we have. What do you know about the Umbron, anyway?"

She fell into step beside him unthinkingly: old habits died hard. "They're a race of semi-humans who have some crazy ideas about their natural superiority. They think they've reached genetic perfection, and have decided that the rest of the galaxy's semi-human population needs to be eradicated. They should have been defeated by the defence systems of Rada Prime but someone gave them access codes. Now they've occupied this planet, and are harvesting its resources before they go on to do the same to other worlds." The Doctor blinked. "I have been doing this a while now, Doctor. You don't have to look so surprised."

* * *

_It had been different after he regenerated, of course._ _He was different._

_But they had adapted. It had been difficult, at first. Tense. But they had slipped back into their comfortable relationship, the three of them. Travellers in time... and space!_

_For two years it seemed inevitable that they should eventually become lovers, and yet it had still surprised her, when under twin moons the Doctor had planted a swift kiss on her lips and told her she was beautiful. _

_It had surprised her even more two months later, in the middle of a heated row in the library about just who's fault it had been the Andronian Mud-People had locked them in that stinking prison cell, when she found herself pinning him to the chaise longue still protesting her innocence in the matter whilst he undid her bra. With his teeth. _

_Jack had walked in on them before anything too dramatic occurred, and they hadn't spoken for three days after that. But then she'd nearly been killed whilst he'd been running around saving the day, and he hadn't even realised, until Jack had slapped him and asked him what the Hell he thought he was playing at?_

_He'd come to her room that night, to apologise, and they'd ended up making love. It was a good description for what they'd done; gentle, slow, emotional. _

_And so they had succumbed at last to the unavoidable, caved in almost three years to the day after she had first run into his TARDIS. She moved her things into his bedroom, and once in a while Jack would be left to amuse himself for a day, whilst to Doctor treated Rose to the romantic retreats of the universe. _

_It was not until the passing of her twenty-fifth birthday that the cracks had begun to appear. Both of them had known, truthfully, what lay at the heart of the matter, but neither of them had found the courage to voice it. She had moved her things out of his room, although they'd still found themselves sharing the same bed more often than not; hot, sullen sex seemed to be the end of every one of their blazing rows, the truth stretched out between them as they lay together in the dark, loving one another far too much to let go, hating what they were becoming too much to stay._

_They wanted domesticity, he as much as she. _

_They wanted vows of undying love, the eventual patter of tiny half-human feet down the lonely corridors of the TARDIS_.

_They both knew they could never have it. And so they had drifted on, listlessly..._

_It had been Rose's idea, although Jack had first voiced it to the Doctor after she confessed it to him. Things were getting too cramped in the TARDIS. Even the best of friends could get annoyed with one another when they lived in each other's pockets. The Doctor was such a small force in the universe, these days, the one sole survivor of the Time Lords. There was a lot of work to be done, policing the galaxy, setting right errors in time caused by temporal criminals. Maybe the workload would be easier shared between three...?_

_The Doctor had looked her squarely in the eyes as he'd acquiesced Jack's request. They'd searched for a suitable ship, and once found, upgraded it with the relevant technology. A complete history of the universe, as it should be, from the TARDIS's central computer, for them to use as guidance. A tracking device that would help them locate temporal anomalies. Rose would travel with Jack for a while, learn to do things ''the human way,'' as the Doctor had so sneeringly put it. Then they could repeat the process, and she could begin to travel around the galaxy on her own. _

_They'd travelled to the outermost edge of the galaxy to say their goodbyes. Jack had kissed the Doctor, and told him to keep in touch, before moving inside to prep their ship for launch. _

_Each of them had waited for the other to say the words._

_Stay. Don't go. I _need_ you._

_Neither of them had spoken them. _

_He'd given her his jacket, tears making his eyes over-bright, and the sonic screwdriver. She'd accepted the latter unwillingly, only after his reassurance that he could obtain another for himself. _

_They shared a lingering kiss goodbye, and she had wept silently as she had boarded her new home, tears slipping onto his cheeks as he raised a hand and waved her out of his life._

_And that had been that for three long, bitter years. She''d got her own ship, _The London, _and started travelling on her own. _

_They met up, the three of them, eventually, when the hurt had faded enough. Swapped stories. Jack had a new companion. Her and the Doctor remained solitary. Then he'd flown out of her life again. _


End file.
